As I Lie Dying
by Marie Meyers
Summary: What was there to do now? Years of running, surviving-all for naught now. She was a human, but she couldn't start over. The new enemy that wanted her wasn't one she could run from. But; she would not let it claim her. She was still Katerina.


**Title**: As I Lie Dying

_Summary: What was there to do now? Years of running, surviving-all for naught now. She was a human, but she couldn't start over. The new enemy that wanted her wasn't one she could run from. But; she would not let it claim her. She was still Katarina._

Characters: Katherine Pierce (Katerina Petrova)

Genre: Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort

Words: 588

Date Published: 13-22-11, Date Updated: 13-22-11

Disclaimer/Letter From the Author: Hello! This is another tribute fanfiction. I would like to thank my reviewers, followers, and supporters for all that they have done.

Today, _The Petals that Fall_ broke 150 followers! As much as I would love the reviews to match, I am thankful, grateful, and honored to know that so many people are reading it.

It is my every wish and intention, to create something so vivid, and so real to the reader, that it captivates them. _That_ is the purpose of a writer, that is what we're _supposed_ to do.

And apparently I've done that, so thank you.

I originally planned on writing a tribute _Francis_ story instead, but this story wrote itself. Besides, in _The Petals that Fall_, we'll see some Francis soon enough.

If any reader has seen the current episode of TVD, then they know this didn't necessarily happen. I just think, that the moment shared between she and Stefan was endearing.

For anyone who hasn't read my new fanfic, a _Reign _fanfic, _The Petals that Fall_, I sugesstthey do so. I think it deserves a shot to make an impression.

_The Vampire Diaries_, and its characters, are not mine to claim. However, the plot and delivery of this story is. Please ask permission before any reuse of any part of this wor of fiction.

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**As I Lie Dying**

She had witnessed villages burn. She had seen people die. She watched nations, countries, and communities change, and adapt through the cycles of time.

And through out all of it, her brown eyes never wrinkled; her sight never diminished. Her brown hair stayed long and soft, cascading down her back without ever any tint of gray. She stood tall; she stood _strong_. To Katherine, _that_ was living.

However now, _now_ her hair was going gray. _Now_ her body began to fail her, and all the power and strength her gait once possessed, was diminishing away.

She was dying, and it sucked.

Katherine climbed the winding staircase of the clock tower, her hips aching in protest. Before, when she had been a vampire, climbing a few flights of stairs would have been of no issue.

_Well, that was before, wasn't it?_ She grit her teeth in frustration, then hastily bit down on her tongue so she would not cry out against the sudden pain that shot up her leg, forcing her to pause and hunch over on the steps. She would not cry out against the pain. She would _not_.

All those years she had been alive. All the things she had done in her years. Never, _never_ did she, Katherine Pierce-no, _Katerina Petrova_-see this coming. The moment when she would be _inching_ up flights of stairs with _no_ super human strength, walking slowly with her hand-_clasped_ on her lower back!-to alleviate-_alleviate!_-pain. So this is what _Fate_ had reduced her to? A life that she couldn't live?

Perhaps she should have let Gregor kill her; but she hadn't let his grandfather, and so why give him that satisfaction? An order, from Travellers, to have her killed? It seemed as if _Fate_ was always tryin to take her life. As if she were destined to die.

So perhaps she should. She was tired of running. And now, she was just an ordinary human; what strength had she to flee and survive?

But _Fate_ would not claim its victory over her. She _would not_ relinquish to its hands _her_ pride.

Her only regret now, was that no one was there with her. To see her off, and say good bye. Katherine thought of Nadia, and regret assaulted her again, for her daughter. A daughter she had always loved, but could not watch live. Yes, dying alone and leaving her daughter, were the only two regrets she had; because everything else she had done for a _reason_. Everything else had kept her alive, and Fate's grip off her pride and freedom.

_Just like now_.

Katherine closed her eyes, her body plastered to the clock's surface. She could do it. She could. The only thing scaring her was the thought of it hurting. She turned around. Walking to the tip of the edge, she out-stretched her arms, and held her head high. _Fate would see her die, but it would not claim her life. _

She let the wind push her body off the ledge.

_Fate would not claim her pride_.

The wind whipped at her, its harsh breeze entangling its fingers in her hair.

_And if she were to die, she'd do it flying._

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©Marie Meyers, 2013. (Follow on Twitter at _meyermariea_)


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